Monzo joins Current Account Switching Service

Digital banking behemoth Monzo has announced it has now secured full participation in the UK’s Current Account Switching Service (CASS), allowing its users to migrate all existing payments and direct debits over from one bank account to their Monzo account.

The bank hopes that the news will encourage more of its users to make Monzo their primary bank account, appointing the platform as the centre of their financial life. This would mean receiving their monthly salary via Monzo, or paying monthly subscriptions and direct debits directly from their Monzo account.

“We believe that everyone should be able to make an engaged, informed choice about the bank they use,” said Monzo senior software engineer Daniel Cannon. 

“And the inconvenience of switching shouldn’t stop you from choosing an account that works for you.”

By carrying out an account switch via the government-supported CASS, any interest paid or lost and any fees incurred as a result of the switch are refunded straight back to the user. Fellow digital banking rival Starling Bank has already been a member of CASS for some time, but there has yet to be any data released on how this has affected its own user acquisition numbers.

Monzo recently closed down its ancestral prepaid debit card programme, convincing 94 per cent of its active users to upgrade to the new current account in the process. Over 500,000 users now own a Monzo current account, with around 60,000 new accounts being added per month.

At the end of March while participating in a panel at the AltFi London Summit, product manager Valerio Magliulo said that only 10 per cent of all users have made Monzo their primary current account. This seems to have increased in recent months, with more up-to-date statistics showing that this number has now increased to 15 per cent.